In Europe many people died during World WarⅡ. As a result, at the end of the war there were many orphans(孤儿) there. A man called Hermann Gmeiner wanted to help these children. His idea was simple. He wanted the orphans to have a home, and to have the care and kindness of parents. Gmeiner asked people to raise some money. With the money he built the first SOS Children’s Village at Imst, in Australia. It opened in 1949. This is how the SOS Children’s Village started. The letters SOS stand for “Save Our Sols(灵魂)”. This means “please help us!” The SOS Children’s Village gives help to orphans.
Hermann Gmeiner’s idea of helping orphans soon spread all over the world. By 1983, there were 170 SOS Children’s Villages in the world. People in many countries give money to help the villages. Today the children from the first Children’s Village have grown up. Now some of them work in other SOS Children’s Villages. In SOS Villages orphans live in family groups. There are several houses in each village. The biggest villages have 40 or 50 houses! From seven to ten children live in a house. A woman lives with each group of children and looks after them. She gives the children a lot of love and kindness. She cooks for them and makes a comfortable and happy home for them.
Of course, the children don’t spend all their time in the village. They go to school, go out with their friends and also go to town. But the village gives them a home—for the first time in their lives.
What do we call a child who has no parents?
What do the letters “SOS” stand for?
How many SOS Children’s Villages in the world were there by 1983?
Can the woman who lives with the orphans do some cooking for the children?
The children don’t spent all their time in the village, do they?